Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Government on their review of electricity market arrangements (REMA), including on any potential impacts that zonal pricing could have on all market participants, including consumers, communities and industry. The UK Government is working on modelling to further understand this, and we will continue to scrutinise this closely. Modelling conducted for UK Government by LCP Delta and Grant Thornton indicates that indicates that Scotland’s consumers could potentially benefit from lower wholesale electricity prices. However, we are also aware of modelling which suggests potentially negative impacts for Scotland’s renewables industry.

We are engaging with a range of stakeholders, including the renewable industry and consumer organisations to ensure that the impacts of zonal pricing are fully considered by the UK Government ahead of any decisions on market reform. We have also gathered views on electricity reform via the first Scottish Forum on Future Electricity Markets held in December 2024 and our Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) which meets four times a year.

The Scottish Government commissioned independent research through ClimateXChange to assess the potential impact of locational pricing for a just transition to net zero, which was published on 12 August 2024.

Employment and industrial relations legislation is reserved to the UK Parliament. While this remains the case, the Scottish Government will continue to use our Fair Work policy to drive up labour market standards for workers across the Scottish labour market. There have been no recent discussions with the UK Government specifically regarding the employment rights of offshore oil and gas workers in Scotland.

The new national service will ensure that an offer of support is available to all eligible individuals who are serving a short sentence (under 4 years), or being held on a period of remand.

As with the current Shine and New Routes Public Social Partnership services, the new service will be voluntary, and individuals will have a choice about whether they wish to sign up to the service.

Dedicated prison-based workers will provide initial support during the custodial environment and will contribute to effective multi-agency pre-release planning. Prior to liberation, individuals will be introduced to their community worker who will provide support on release.

There is no record that Scottish Government has had any correspondence with Hampton Group International, Pitch@Palace or the UK Chinese Business Association, nor with Mr Yang Tengbo, in the last 12 years.

The information is not available in the format requested, however, the Scottish Government routinely publishes data on local authority voids, with the latest data available here: Housing statistics: Local authority housing stock - gov.scot.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Ministers act in a manner consistent with the Scottish Government’s duty to uphold the Equality Act 2010 at all times.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The next edition of the Disability and Transport publication will be published by Transport Scotland later in March this year.

It is intended that Transport Scotland will update the report on an annual basis in future. However, this is dependent on the availability of data supporting meaningful annual analysis.

Decisions on publication frequency will continue to be made in consultation with the Disability and Transport Monitoring and Evaluation Group: a steering group for Transport Scotland’s work in this area, which includes representatives from the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS), Disability Equality Scotland, and Transport Scotland.

The Scottish Government is tackling marine litter with actions detailed in our Marine Litter Strategy, which aims to address the amount of litter entering the marine environment, to achieve ecological, economic and social benefits. Our Strategy and action plan was refreshed in September 2022 and focuses on the most problematic types of marine litter including fishing and aquaculture gear, sewage-related debris, and plastic pellets. The Strategy drives forward our work and co-ordinates the efforts of our stakeholders and partners, working at a national and international level to help tackle this global problem.

At a Scotland-wide level, our many actions to prevent litter include: improving the management of end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear to reduce litter and improve recycling rates, contributing to our circular economy; working across the four nations to ban the sale of wet wipes containing plastic; and developing international solutions to prevent spills of plastic pellets, which can be found on beaches and risk the health of marine wildlife. Litter removal actions include: funding the KIMO Fishing for Litter scheme, to assist the correct disposal of litter caught in fishing nets; and funding the Keep Scotland Beautiful Upstream Battle project, removing litter along rivers.

At a regional level such as Loch Long, we continue to work with key partners relating to the River Clyde catchment and west coast locations including Arrochar. The Upstream Battle project enables communities, businesses, and schools on the River Clyde to develop local solutions to reduce littering, and also support its clean-up. Litter is reduced and intercepted before it reaches the sea, and citizen science outputs will inform further riverine litter policy. We are engaging with Glasgow City Council to consider more options to increase litter removal from the River Clyde which we know is a major source of litter at Loch Long.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33259 on 11 February 2025 All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.